Tennis

4:10 PM ET ESPN staff Top seeds Dominika Cibulkova and Zhang Shuai both enjoyed straight sets victories to get their respective Hungarian Ladies Open campaigns off to a strong start. No. 1 seed Cibulkova saw off wildcard Fanny Stollar 6-3, 6-3 Wednesday while second seed Zhang advanced to the last 16 in Budapest with a

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Sixth-seeded Angelique Kerber needed less than an hour to beat Barbora Strycova of the Czech Republic 6-2, 6-1 Tuesday in the first round of the Dubai Championships. Fifth-seeded Caroline Garcia of France also advanced, beating Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic 6-3, 7-5. Kerber was broken in the opening game

Even after he went more than four years without a Grand Slam title, even after the first operation of his career led to the first prolonged absence of his career, even after a slide down to 17th in the world rankings, Roger Federer never wavered. Which, when you think about it, makes quite a bit

RIO DE JANEIRO — World No. 3 Marin Cilic of Croatia won his debut at the Rio Open. The tournament’s top seed beat Argentine Carlos Berlocq 6-3, 6-2 on Monday. This was Cilic’s first match since reaching the Australian Open final. He faces Gael Monfils or Horacio Zeballos next. Marin Cilic picked up a win

UNIONDALE, N.Y. — Kevin Anderson had already dealt with the disappointment of falling short in a final in New York. His surprising run to the US Open final last summer jump-started his climb back into the top 10, but his loss to Rafael Nadal was a painful reminder that he kept coming up short at

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — Top-seeded Dominic Thiem of Austria beat Slovenia’s Aljaz Bedene 6-2, 6-4 on Sunday to win the Argentina Open for the second time in three seasons. The 24-year-old Thiem, ranked No. 6 in the world, didn’t lose a set in the clay-court event. He won his ninth career title and first since

DOHA, Qatar — Petra Kvitova continued her remarkable comeback by beating Garbine Muguruza in the Qatar Open final on Sunday for her 13th straight win and second consecutive title. The 27-year-old Czech, a two-time Wimbledon champion, needed another three-setter to beat the fourth-seeded Spaniard 3-6, 6-3, 6-4. It was Kvitova’s sixth win over a top-10

ROTTERDAM, Netherlands — Roger Federer came to the ABN AMRO World Tournament aiming to secure a return to the top of the world rankings. He achieved that goal Friday. On Sunday, he put an exclamation point on a remarkable week by winning the tournament for good measure. Federer overpowered Grigor Dimitrov 6-2, 6-2 in less

UNIONDALE, N.Y. — Second-seeded Sam Querrey advanced to the final of the New York Open, winning the last four games to beat No. 4 Adrian Mannarino 6-7 (5), 7-5, 6-3 on Saturday. Querrey will face top-seeded Kevin Anderson or No. 5 Kei Nishikori in Sunday’s final. The U.S. Davis Cup player fought off three break

UNIONDALE, N.Y. — Sam Querrey had everything figured out Saturday except his math. The No. 2 seed lost track of the score and didn’t realize he had closed out the match when he beat fourth-seeded Adrian Mannarino 6-7 (5), 7-5, 6-3 in the semifinals of the New York Open. Querrey won the final four games

The ATP said Friday it found no evidence that Ryan Harrison used a racial slur during a match at the New York Open earlier this week. Donald Young had accused Harrison of using racially inappropriate language when the Americans had a heated exchange during their opening-round match Monday. “All available evidence was reviewed including match

ROTTERDAM, Netherlands — Roger Federer added another highlight to his age-defying career resurgence by returning to the top of the world rankings on Friday after more than five years and becoming the oldest No. 1 at 36. “What an amazing run it’s been and a journey it’s been for me … to clinch world No.

DOHA, Qatar — Simona Halep reached the Qatar Open semifinals with a dominating win, then promptly withdrew with a right foot injury on Friday. After beating American qualifier Catherine Bellis 6-0, 6-4, Halep announced her withdrawal from the semis on Saturday, when she was scheduled to play Garbine Muguruza. Simona Halep, who advanced to the

UNIONDALE, N.Y. — Top-seeded Kevin Anderson needed a third-set tiebreaker to beat American Ernesto Escobedo 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (5) on Thursday in the second round of the New York Open. The U.S. Open runner-up from South Africa was playing his first match at the tournament after receiving a first-round bye. He advanced to face another

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The Davis Cup quarterfinal between the United States and Belgium will take place April 6-8 at Belmont University in Nashville. Belmont’s Curb Event Center was announced as the Davis Cup quarterfinal site Thursday. This will mark the Davis Cup’s first stop in Nashville since a 1978 matchup between the United States and

ROTTERDAM, Netherlands — Roger Federer is within touching distance of becoming the oldest male to reach the top of the world rankings after marching into the quarterfinals of the ABN AMRO tournament. The 20-time Grand Slam champion went through after making it 13 wins in as many matches against Philipp Kohlschreiber with a 7-6 (10-8),

UNIONDALE, N.Y. — Third-seeded John Isner was upset by Radu Albot of Moldova 7-6 (5), 3-6, 6-3 on Wednesday night in the second round of the New York Open. Isner hit 28 aces to Albot’s one, but the 91st-ranked Albot came up with a third-set break and held on from there to knock off the

8:48 PM ET Peter BodoTennis Close Peter Bodo has been covering tennis for over 35 years, mostly recently for ESPN. He is a former WTA Writer of the Year and the author of numerous books, including the classic “The Courts of Babylon” and the New York Times bestseller (with Pete Sampras), “A Champion’s Mind.” UNIONDALE,